This invention relates to supports for maintaining reinforcement, such as bar or mesh, at a pre-determined level in concrete structures prior to, and during, the pouring of the concrete around the supports and reinforcements.
Supports for this purpose have already been proposed. For example in British Pat. No. 1434054 various shapes of support or spacer are disclosed wherein the supports comprise assemblies of inverted `U` shaped yokes. Adjacent such `U` shaped yokes are described principally as being welded together to give rigidity to the assembly although there is also described an assembly wherein adjacent yokes are connected only at their feet, i.e. at the lower-most extremities of the adjacent vertical limbs of each inverted `U` shaped yoke. As described in the said patent such foot connectors take the form of `U` shaped staples fitted into the hollow adjacent feet of adjacent yokes, the yokes in such an arrangement being formed of tubular material. However it is evident in such an arrangement that the adjacent verticle limbs of adjacent yokes may tend to splay apart and indeed, it is clear that the said patent is primarily concerned with spot welding adjacent limbs of adjacent yokes together at vertically spaced positions in order to enhance the rigidity of the assembly.
Welded assemblies of inverted `U` shaped yokes are of necessity awkward to handle and transport, and bent configurations of support made from a continuous length of wire or rod would be similarly bulky and awkward.